Digital cameras comprise an electronic sensor, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor or Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, lodged in a recessed sensor chamber of the camera, and onto which is projected the image of what is seen through the lens of the camera. This sensor can acquire the image projected thereon and convert it into electronic data, which is thereafter forwarded to data processing means provided on the digital camera. The data processing means then converts this electronic data into an image file of known format, such as in JPEG, TIFF or RAW formats, stored thereafter on the memory card of the camera. Of course, this sensor must remain as clean as possible, since impurities deposited thereon can undesirably alter the final image acquired by the camera.
It is inevitable that during normal use of a digital camera, its sensor will become exposed to the atmosphere and its airborne impurities, such as minute airborne dust particles. More particularly, on professional digital cameras having interchangeable lenses such as digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, the sensor exposed lens surface inevitably becomes contaminated by the atmosphere and its impurities whenever the lens is removed from the body of the camera, for example when switching lenses.
To clean the sensor of their digital cameras, and more particularly to remove dust particles from its surface, digital camera owners have come up with a number of cleaning methods.
A common cleaning technique used by digital camera owners is to blow air from a canned air duster directly about the surface of the sensor. This technique, in addition to blowing away the dust on the sensor, has the adverse effect of dispersing and not removing dust particles.
An alternate technique is to blow canned air into the bristles of a brush and then sweeping the surface of the sensor with the brush. Pressurized air is blown on the bristles for two purposes: (1) for blowing away all impurities that may be present between the bristles of the brush, and (2) for electrostatically charging the bristles of the brush, and thus enhancing the brush's capacity to pick up dust particles present on the camera sensor.
However, this latter technique also has its drawbacks. Indeed, liquid sometimes squirts out of canned air dusters when air is blown on the bristles, and liquid can thereafter be undesirably smeared on the surface of the sensor when the brush is swept thereacross. Another disadvantage of using canned air dusters is that they are pressurized containers and it is prohibited to bring them aboard aircrafts, which can be inconvenient for travelling photographers for example. Furthermore, pressurized air duster cans are not reusable, and after such a duster has been emptied, it is disposed of and a new one must be purchased.